I am today publishing a report on Departments’ and agencies’ performance on handling Members’ and peers’ correspondence during the calendar year 2011. Details are set out in the table below. Correspondence statistics for 2010 can be found on 28 March 2011, Official Report, 1WS.

Departmental figures are based on substantive replies unless otherwise indicated. The footnotes to the table provide general background information on how the figures have been compiled.

Correspondence from MP/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives 2011

Correspondence from MPs/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives(1)

(1)Departments and Agencies which received 10 MPs/Peers letters or fewer are not shown in this table. Holding or interim replies are not included unless otherwise indicated. The report does not include correspondence considered as Freedom of Information requests. (2)Drop in performance was due to significant increase in correspondence from February - April on property fraud, alongside a change in Chief Executive. Performance for the remainder of 2011 rose to 50% with October to December at 63% (3)Response target 15 working days with effect from 1 April 2011. (4)Response target reduced to 10 working days with effect from May 2010. Performance against 15 working days was 85% (5)DCMS also monitor Ministerial correspondence to the following Departmental targets: 2 working days - 41% of responses sent. 10 working days - 79% of responses sent (6)Agency wound up with effect from 16 June 2011. (7)Between January and June 2011, the Department cleared a substantial backlog of correspondence following a 20% increase in correspondence overall since May 2010. For the January-June period 34% of correspondence was sent within the 15 day target, and 47% within 20 days. The Department has now put in place a new system to improve quality and deal with sustained higher volumes of correspondence. Between July and December 47% of letters were sent within the 15 day target, and 66% of letters were sent within 20 days. The Department expects improvements in performance to continue in 2012. (8)Includes the Government Equalities Office. (9)This decrease in performance is due to a number of factors - including an overall increase in correspondence volumes of 24%, introduction of a new correspondence handling system, and departmental re-structuring. A number of measures have now been put in place to improve performance, including improved reporting arrangements; process efficiencies and an increased focus on clearance. (10)Correspondence often about complex individual tax matters hence delays in replying. Improvements in place to improve performance.